NEWARK, N.J.—The Colorado Avalanche made Nathan MacKinnon the prom king of the NHL by taking him with the No. 1 pick of the 2013 Draft. The 17-year-old had that as consolation, not that he needed it anyway.

"I'm not much of a prom guy anyway," MacKinnon said while wearing Nova Scotia's secondary set of formalwear, a hockey jersey over a shirt and tie. "Definitely beats it a little bit."

MacKinnon is from the same hometown as Sidney Crosby, who went No. 1 overall in 2005, and said that Crosby is his favorite player. Before Crosby came on the scene, though, MacKinnon had another favorite player, and it was that player who made Sunday more of a dream come true than a prom ever could have.

"I idolized Joe Sakic," MacKinnon said. "I'm not going to lie, I switched to Pittsburgh, hopped on that bandwagon, but for the first part of my life I was an Avs fan, and I guess it's a little ironic that I got to play for the Mooseheads (Halifax's team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) and now the Avalanche, and everything is working out so far and hopefully will continue that way."

There is no reason to believe that things won't continue working out for MacKinnon, who is seen as NHL-ready after scoring 32 goals with 43 assists in 44 games in juniors this season. MacKinnon does not have to play for the Avalanche immediately, though, as Colorado's strongest position may be center, with Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny and Ryan O'Reilly all on the roster, although O'Reilly is likely to shift to wing.

That preponderance of centers is the one reason to question Colorado's decision to select MacKinnon over hometown product Seth Jones, the defenseman who went to Nashville at No. 4, but the Avs seemed to have no doubt, with Sakic, the executive vice president of hockey operations having publicly gushed about him being the best player available.

"What you like about a guy like Nathan is he's played in the moment," Sakic said. "And it seems whenever that moment is there, he rises to the occasion, brings it to another level."

MacKinnon is 6-0, 182 pounds, and doesn't turn 18 until Sept 1. He also dominated the Memorial Cup, scoring a hat trick in the title game on his way to a tournament MVP award.

"What makes Nathan stand out is that he has a real quickness with his read and react: his hockey sense, how he sees the ice and his vision," Dan Marr, director of NHL Central Scouting, told reporters. "That is something special in a player. He is continuing to physically mature, but already he's got a lot of grit in his game and he is a competitive player."

MacKinnon already is speaking the same language, and talking about Stanley Cups, which the Avalanche last won in 2001.

"What I want to do for an NHL team, I want to try to elevate it as much as I can," he said. "They have already so many talented players, and it's flattering that they wanted me to come help. It's to win a Stanley Cup as soon as we can. Like (coach Patrick Roy) said, I've been following it. The team is going to be a Stanley Cup mentality, and that's what we'll work for from day one."

If the philosophy in Colorado is that Stanley Cups are built with strength up the middle, from the front office on down, MacKinnon fits the mold.

Colorado is moving into a new division next season with the defending champion Blackhawks and a very good St. Louis Blues team, but there should be playoff spots available competing against Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, and Winnipeg. Having revamped the organization's leadership with Sakic and Roy, Colorado now has a new face on the ice to get back to chasing the Cup.

"It's the hardest trophy in sports in my opinion," MacKinnon said. "It's a grind to get there, and to have some leadership like that and some players that can really take the team under their wings, they've been—to win the Stanley Cup is pretty special, and very fortunate I can go to an organization like this."